We were traveling to Rapid City to visit family for the Christmas holiday on December 20th. We had spent the morning in Laramie enjoying an incredible pancake breakfast with our friends and were on the road by noon. The drive was going fairly well. The weather was holding out, even though they predicted snow. We were an hour and a half from Rapid and had just passed Edgemont. We came around a bend and there in the middle of our lane was a deer apparently thinking that grass grew in the road. Micah had less than 10 seconds to react and was only able to slow down a little bit. The deer hit us head on and flew up and over our car landing in the ditch on the other side of the road. Micah pulled over to the side and our car instantly started informing us how unwilling it was to respond to this situation in a positive way. Micah checked on the deer to make sure it was completely off the road and not suffering. We then turned the car around and attempted to drive back into Edgemont. We were just turning into Edgemont when the car gave up completely. With the help of a local we pushed it into the gas station. We were both in shock for awhile and just sat in the car trying to figure out what we should do next. Thankfully the gas station had a little restaurant area for us to sit and wait since the weather was hovering above zero. We called Micah's parents and began the wait for our rescue. Once we knew that they would be able to come and get us we, or I should say I, got a little more emotional realizing that we were going to need to go car shopping over the break...not something we enjoy or were planning on.
Looking back on the situation we were able to realize how fortunate we really were. The timing, location... it was all a blessing because if we had been any where else it would have been more inconvenient for a family member to travel to us, there might not have been cell phone service or a gas station to sit and wait in during the cold weather, so we really felt very fortunate.
We did have to extend our stay in Rapid by several days to find a car. The day before we were planning on leaving we found another Outback, 6 years newer than our last one. The car was in great condition and we were able to get a great deal on the price, which we were very grateful for because it was an unexpected purchase.
On our way back home to Laramie we stopped in Edgemont to clean out "Ole Blue" and take the following pictures.
Looking back on the situation we were able to realize how fortunate we really were. The timing, location... it was all a blessing because if we had been any where else it would have been more inconvenient for a family member to travel to us, there might not have been cell phone service or a gas station to sit and wait in during the cold weather, so we really felt very fortunate.
We did have to extend our stay in Rapid by several days to find a car. The day before we were planning on leaving we found another Outback, 6 years newer than our last one. The car was in great condition and we were able to get a great deal on the price, which we were very grateful for because it was an unexpected purchase.
On our way back home to Laramie we stopped in Edgemont to clean out "Ole Blue" and take the following pictures.
The view from the front, which actually looks a little better because they had to flatten out the hood in order to open it up and check out the engine. 
The inside view. The grill was pushed back quite a bit, which pushed around other parts. 
